Moated site and associated earthworks on Pound Hill, 700m east of Gatwick Stream.

List Entry Summary

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Name: Moated site and associated earthworks on Pound Hill, 700m east of Gatwick Stream.

List entry Number: 1013770

Location

The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County: West Sussex

District: Crawley

District Type: District Authority

Parish:

National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.

Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.

Date first scheduled: 13-Apr-1949

Date of most recent amendment: 18-Dec-1992

Legacy System Information

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System: RSM

UID: 20003

Asset Groupings

This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

List entry Description

Summary of Monument

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

Around 6,000 moated sites are known in England. They consist of wide ditches,
often or seasonally water-filled, partly or completely enclosing one or more
islands of dry ground on which stood domestic or religious buildings. In some
cases the islands were used for horticulture. The majority of moated sites
served as prestigious aristocratic and seigneurial residences with the
provision of a moat intended as a status symbol rather than a practical
military defence. The peak period during which moated sites were built was
between about 1250 and 1350 and by far the greatest concentration lies in
central and eastern parts of England. However, moated sites were built
throughout the medieval period, are widely scattered throughout England and
exhibit a high level of diversity in their forms and sizes. They form a
significant class of medieval monument and are important for the understanding
of the distribution of wealth and status in the countryside. Many examples
provide conditions favourable to the survival of organic remains.

The moated site on Pound Hill survives well and exhibits a diversity of
contemporary component features including the fishponds and earthworks. The
waterlogging of the moat provides ideal conditions for the survival of organic
remains and environmental evidence relating both to the economy of the site
and the landscape in which it was constructed.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a rectangular moated site roughly 100m by 96m with two
associated fishponds and other earthworks situated 700m to the east of Gatwick
Stream. It is composed of two separate areas. The moat is aligned north-west
to south-east with the island measuring 66m by 57m. On the south-west side of
the island are the remains of an internal bank 5m wide and 0.2m high running
along the western edge. Surrounding the island is a moat, all four arms of
which are water-filled and surviving to between 7m and 24m wide. The original
causeway was still visible until the late 1970's on the south-west side, set
approximately 5m from the south corner. To the east of the moat are two
rectangular depressions, the northern measuring 24m by 12m and c.1.5m deep;
the other c.18m by 18m and 1.5m deep. These are the visible remains of a
series of at least three fishponds fed by the stream which still fills the
moat through a leat running into the west corner. The moat outflow is in its
north corner where the ditch is at its widest point.
To the north and east of the moat, a linear earthwork is the surviving portion
of two large rectangular enclosures, which documentary evidence suggests is
associated with clay extraction during the medieval period. The bank running
northwest from the north corner of the moat is c.2.5m high and 17m wide. On
the south west side of the bank is a ditch 0.3m deep and 2m wide.
The grille, fence and associated equipment at the moat outlet at the north
corner of the moat, the park bench and fences are excluded from the scheduling
although the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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